Latest Episodes

Colten Boushie was a 22-year-old Indigenous man from the Red Pheasant First Nation in Saskatchewan, Canada, who was shot and killed on a farm near Biggar, Saskatchewan, on August 9, 2016. His death received widespread attention and led to a national conversation in Canada about systemic racism and the treatment of Indigenous peoples in the criminal justice system. The trial and acquittal of the farmer who was charged with Boushie’s death, a man named Gerald Stanley, also sparked controversy and led to calls for reforms in the Canadian justice system.

At 12:53 am on the morning of October 15, 2018, a frantic, garbled 911 came in from the Closs Family just west of the City of Barron, Wisconsin, U.S.A. There is screaming throughout the 45 seconds of the call from what seems to be two different females. Police arrived shortly after 911 was placed. Inside the home were the bodies of James and Denise Closs. They’d both been shot to death. It was soon discovered that the Closs couple’s 13-year-old daughter, Jayme Lynn, was missing.

Episode 220: The attention grabbing headline of the the article in The Province newspaper on the morning of July 3, 2013 screamed, “RCMP foil Canada Day bomb plot”, the subheading read, “VICTORIA: Two British Columbians allegedly hatch scheme to blow up legislature.” Since March of that year, RCMP had been engaged in what they called Project Souvenir, a complex and expensive sting operation to gather evidence against two Surrey residents, John Stuart Nuttall, 38, and his common-law wife, Amanda Marie Korody, 29. The RCMP alleged that the pair were Islamist extremist bent on blowing up BC’s legislature buildings in Victoria and killing as many innocent Canadians as possible on Canada Day that year. On the morning of July 1, the couple had apparently placed three pressure cooker bombs strategically near concrete planters on the west and east sides of the Provincial legislature buildings. The pair were taken into custody in the hallway of a hotel in Delta, B.C. where they had used a room, wired by cops for video and sound, where they had built their bombs and spoken openly about their plot to kill Canadians. But, as the truth came out, evidence revealed that Nuttall and Korody were not even remotely the devious threats to national security they’d been said to be and that the RCMP had in fact, according to court findings, entrapped the pair. The bombs had been inert, made using intentionally flawed designs and materials handed to the couple by the RCMP themselves during the more than one million dollar operation to bust them.Sources:John Nuttall | ReverbNationR. v. Nuttall, 2016 BCSC 1404 (CanLII), R. v. Nuttall, 2018 BCCA 479 (CanLII), Korody v. Canada (Attorney General), 2015 FC 1398 (CanLII), Friends of John Nuttall say he was a great friend, but was also troubled | Globalnews.ca3 Jul 2013, 4 - The Province at Newspapers.com3 Jul 2013, 3 - Times Colonist at Newspapers.com4 Jul 2013, 4 - The Vancouver Sun at Newspapers.comCKNW — NUTTALL & KORODY VideoVancouver Sun — Raw: Alleged terrorists Nuttall, Korody talk about Canada Day plotVancouver Sun — Raw: John Nuttall, accused in B.C. terror case, speaks with undercover officerYou searched for korody - BC Civil Liberties AssociationBC Civil Liberties AssociationVancouver Sun — An alleged terrorist’s Surrey suite is revealed 97a AveCanadian Press — B.C. couple walk free after entrapment ruling in terror caseBC Terror Trial Reveals Gong Show RCMP InvestigationExclusive W5 interview: Terror plotters claim they were groomed by Mounties and were relieved bombs were fakeW5: Undercover RCMP anti-terror investigation — YouTubeSurrey Suite, BB TV — YouTubeTerror trial video shows second thoughts — YouTubeCanada Day crowd at B.C. legislature was target in thwarted bomb plot, police say — Victoria Times ColonistNuttall and Korody, couple accused in Victoria legislature bomb plot, remain free after B.C. Court of Appeal ruling - BC | Globalnews.caRCMP spent $1M on Victoria terror plot investigation, including $90K on Nuttall and Korody - BC | Globalnews.caRCMP entrapment of B.C. couple in legislature bomb plot was ‘travesty of justice,’ court rules | CBC NewsSupport the show: https://www.patreon.com/darkpoutine

Episode 217: In the early hours of March 27, 2010, Holly Bartlett, 31, was found unconscious and badly injured under the A. Murray MacKay bridge in Halifax, Nova Scotia, 350 metres away from her home. She died the next day in a Halifax Hospital. Holly, a grad student at Dalhousie University, was fiercely independent despite her disability. She had been completely blind since she was thirteen years old. Holly’s autopsy indicated she’d imbibed alcohol and that she had sustained “blunt force injury to the head (…) attributable to a fall” and that the manner of death was accidental. Police did a brief investigation determining that after cabbing home from a night out with a friend, Holly became disoriented and lost due to the combination of her alcohol consumption and her blindness. Somehow, Holly had wandered down two steeply graded streets away from her home and toward the harbour, had made her way through a hole in a chain link fence, down a steep embankment, and fell 7 metres off a concrete abutment under the bridge across Halifax harbour. They called Holly’s death accidental. Holly’s family and friends in the Justice for Holly group were not satisfied and pressed for further investigation into her death. Sources:What Happened to Holly Bartlett? | CNIBDocumentary What Happened to Holly Bartlett Seasons | Accessible Media Inc.Podcast What Happened to Holly Bartlett Podcast | Accessible Media Inc.Sights Unseen — YouTubeHolly Elizabeth Bartlett 1978-2010 - Macleans.caHolly Bartlett witness changes key details in death investigation | CBC NewsReview to be held into blind woman’s death: Halifax police | Globalnews.caExternal review confirms 2010 death of Holly Bartlett was accidental - Halifax | Globalnews.caPolice handling of Holly Bartlett’s death criticized in review | CBC NewsReview of Investigation Into The Death of Holly Bartlett | PDF | Polygraph | VictimologyHolly Bartlett’s unlikely journey | City | Halifax, Nova Scotia | THE COASTPolice announce independent review into Holly Bartlett’s death | News | Halifax, Nova Scotia | THE COASTTelling Holly’s Bartlett’s story, again | Arts + Culture | Halifax, Nova Scotia | THE COASTHolly Bartlett’s family is angry with Halifax policeWhat happened to Holly Bartlett? : UnresolvedMysteriesHolly Bartlett: Autopsy & Clothing - Album on ImgurImgur: Map, based on police reportHome | CNIBNEADS - Financial Aid DirectoryJAWS® – Freedom ScientificSupport the show: https://www.patreon.com/darkpoutine

Episode 214: On November 25, 2011, neighbours around the four-plex at 51st Avenue and 47th Street in the town of Innisfail, Alberta heard a bang which shook their homes. Some said sounded like a gunshot, others said it sounded like someone dropping a heavy pile of wood. The dining room window of one the corner suites had been blown outward, glass was strewn throughout the yard. Police were called to the scene by a bystander inside the home and found a horrific scene. The home was full of smoke and debris. There at the dining room table, still in her wheelchair, first responders discovered the body of 23-year-old, Victoria (Vicky) Shachtay who’d died in what appeared to have been an explosion.Sources:Innisfail | The Canadian EncyclopediaR v Malley, 2015 ABCA 213 (CanLII), R v Malley, 2017 ABCA 186 (CanLII), Malley (Re), 2014 IIROC 10 (CanLII), Malley (Re), 2014 IIROC 29 (CanLII), Blast that killed Vicky Shachtay was a ‘targeted attack’: police | National PostStepfather told victim not to open Christmas gift that turned out to be bomb | CTV NewsFriends, family gather to remember Vicky Shachtay - MountainviewToday.caDisabled woman killed by parcel bomb — YouTubeA defining case | Royal Canadian Mounted PoliceBombing suspect arrested, police hold conference — YouTubeBrian Malley loses last appeal chance - MountainviewToday.caPipe bomb - WikipediaThe pipe bomb: a modern terrorist weapon - PubMedGUILTY - Canada - Vicky Shachtay, 23, paraplegic, killed by bomb, Innisfail, AB, 25 Nov 2011Financial advisor found guilty in blast that killed disabled woman — macleans.caBomb that killed paraplegic Innisfail mom Vicky Shachtay disguised to look like Christmas presents, Red Deer court told | Edmonton SunFriends, family gather to remember Vicky Shachtay - MountainviewToday.caCharges laid in bombing murder of Vicky Shachtay - MountainviewToday.caVictoria Shachtay’s caregiver testifies about moments before fatal explosionMysterious package killed Alberta mother | CBC NewsCanada ‘extremely lucky’ to face few bomb threats, attacks: RCMP - iPoliticsPresentation to Finance Committee Re: Disability Tax Credit Regarding Bill C-462 | Council of Canadians with DisabilitiesVicky Shachtay’s step-dad issues statement about her murder | CTV NewsInvestment Executive: Brian Malley ArticlesGlobal News: Victoria Shachtay | News, Videos & ArticlesRed Deer Advocate: Vicky Shacktay ArticlesVictoria-Shachtay | National PostUnsolved Murders. Help us solve a crime today. Homehttp://www.unsolvedcrimes.caA machinist in rural Ontario flipped the switch on a flashlight that arrived in the mail. Then it exploded | The Star16 years later, police still don’t know who killed Paavo Henttonen | News | toronto.comSupport the show: https://www.patreon.com/darkpoutine

Episode 180 - On September 22, 2015, in Renfrew County, Ontario, 66-year-old Carol Culleton was murdered in her home by her one-time handyman. The man, who’d become obsessed with the recent widow before killing her, then stole Culleton’s car and drove to the home of an ex-girlfriend, Anastasia Kuzyk, 36, and shot Anastasia there with a shotgun as her sister fled the home. However, the killer was not done settling the scores he had cooked up in his head and then drove to the home of another ex-girlfriend, Nathalie Warmerdam, 48. As Nathalie’s son ran from their home, in fear of his life, he heard the gunshot that ended his mother’s life. The killer, Basil Borutski, 58, a former millwright, then fled, and a brief search ensued that ended in Borutski being taken into police custody. Later on, in a 5-hour long taped police interview, the killer admitted to what he’d done, laying the blame for his spree squarely on his victims. Sources: Ontario Provincial Police - What we do Borutski’s history from 1977 to 2011 - Infogram Borutski’s history with Kuzyk and Warmerdam - Infogram Borutski’s history with Culleton - Infogram Murder Sites — Driving Route YouTube - Basil Borutski full police interview YouTube - Basil Borutski and the Wilno Murders: Circle of Fear - The Fifth Estate YouTube - Secrets of… Why Didn’t We Know? Basil Borutski & The Wilno Murders (podcast) - the fifth estate Marchers say Basil Borutski guilty verdict was too little, too late | CBC News What the courts knew about Basil Borutski before he murdered 3 women | CBC News Search: Basil Borutski — Newspapers.com Basil Borutski | News, Videos & Articles — GlobalNews TOPIC: BASIL BORUTSKI TRIAL — CBC.ca R. v. Borutski, 2011 ONSC 3536 (CanLII) Borutski v. Borutski, 2011 ONSC 7099 (CanLII) R. v. Borutski, 2017 ONSC 7748 (CanLII) R. v. Basil Borutski, 2017 ONSC 7762 (CanLII) The Meaning of Life: A Study of the Use of Parole Ineligibility for Murder Sentencing | CanLII BBC Partners — Outlook: Singing for my murdered sister helps me heal Ending Violence Association of Canada Psychology Today — Dark Triad Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/darkpoutine

Episode 179 - On April 19, 2018, in the village of Victoria Gracia, a community close to Pucallpa in Peru’s central Amazon region of Ucayali, a man got off his motorcycle. He walked toward the home of Olivia Arevalo Lomas, an 81-year-old shaman and respected elder in her community. The man was irate over a debt owed to him by the woman’s son. After firing a warning shot that drew a crowd of neighbours, the elderly healer came out of her house. After a bit of yelling back and forth, the man gunned the woman down with two shots from his pistol, killing her in broad daylight. The man, later identified as Sebastian Paul Woodroffe, a 41-year-old British Columbian in Peru as an Ayahuasca researcher, was pursued by villagers who publicly lynched him. A cellphone recorded his killing, and the user later posted the video to Facebook. Woodroffe’s body was buried in a shallow grave. Two Peruvian men were later arrested for Woodroffe’s slaying. What led this man, known to his friends as a gentle, helpful soul, to such a brutal crime? Sources: [Descent into darkness | CBC News] [Blurred Vision: A Shaman’s Murder Exposes the Dark Side of Ayahuasca] [The Cull of Personality Ebook - Kevin Tucker — Black and Green Press] https://retreat.guru [Preparing for Ayahuasca Ceremony - The Uncensored Guide] [Ayahuasca, dimethyltryptamine, and psychosis: a systematic review of human studies] [Sebastian Woodroffe — YouTube Channel] [Sebastian Woodroffe — Facebook] [Improving  On Addiction Help | Indiegogo — Sebastian Woodroffe] [Sebastian Woodroffe - VICE] [Global News — SEARCH: Sebastian Woodroffe] [Sebastian Woodroffe video | CBC.ca] [YouTube — Murder investigation in the jungle - The Fifth Estate] [Hallucinogenic Plants and Their Use in Traditional Societies - An Overview | Cultural Survival] [(PDF) 📄 The Consumption of Psychoactive Plants in Ancient Global and Anatolian Cultures During Religious Rituals: The Roots of the Eruption of Mythological Figures and Common Symbols in Religions and Myths] [Ayahuasca Retreat Peru, Traditional Retreat Center in the Amazon of Peru] [Tragedy in Pucallpa: the Death of Maestra Olivia Arévalo - Temple of the Way of Light] [Peruvian mob kills Canadian man accused of killing respected shaman | Daily Mail Online] [Terence McKenna - Self Transforming Elf Machines - YouTube] [“Machine Elves” or “DMT Elves”: A Spirit World Journey | DoubleBlind Mag] [Canadian lynched in Peru after being accused of shaman’s death | Peru | The Guardian] [All evidence shows B.C. man lynched in Peru had shot and killed Indigenous healer: prosecutor | CBC News] [Woodroffe remembered by neighbours as ‘spiritual, loving, kind and polite’ – Comox Valley Record] [Briton Unais Gomes killed by Canadian Joshua Andrew Freeman Stevens in Peru | Daily Mail Online] [The Canadian Man Who Killed a British Guy at an Ayahuasca Retreat in Peru Speaks Out] Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/darkpoutine

Episode 178: On the evening of January 29, 2017, a young man, armed with a pistol and a rifle concealed inside a guitar case, entered the Islamic Cultural Centre of Quebec City, a mosque in the Sainte-Foy neighbourhood of the historic city. Just over 40 people were inside the mosque at the time. Just before 8:00 pm, the man entered the prayer hall and began firing and, within two minutes, had killed 6 and seriously injured 5 other worshippers. After the shootings, the killer walked out of the building, hopped into his car and drove off. Less than 20 minutes later, the perpetrator, a 27-year-old, Canadian-born student of anthropology and political science at Laval University, surrendered to police, admitting he was the shooter. The motive? Islamophobia. Sources: [CCIQ – Centre Culturel Islamique de Québec] R. c. Bissonnette, 2019 QCCS 354 (CanLII), Bissonnette c. R., 2020 QCCA 1585 (CanLII), [YouTube - Alexandre Bissonnette’s interrogation (en Français)] [YouTube - Alexandre Bissonnette’s FULL interrogation (en Français) 3 hour 8 minute] [YouTube - La déclaration des parents d’Alexandre Bissonnette] [Les parents d’Alexandre Bissonnette jugent sa peine très sévère | Radio-Canada.ca] [Alexandre Bissonnette’s parents speak out about their son | Global News] [Open Letter From Raymond Bissonnette | Murder | Criminal Justice] [‘I had to do something’: Mosque shooter said he acted to prevent terrorism | Montreal Gazette] [Remembering the Québec City mosque attack: Islamophobia and Canada’s national amnesia] [Court reduces sentence for Quebec City mosque attacker | Courts News | Al Jazeera] [Alexandre Bissonnette: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know | Heavy.com] https://twitter.com/justintrudeau/status/825438460265762816?lang=en [Alexandre Bissonnette’s parents ask Prime Minister to stop calling their son a terrorist | CTV News] [Islamophobia.org] [Islamophobia: Understanding Anti-Muslim Sentiment in the West] [Islamophobia in Canada - Wikipedia] [Read Fear of a Muslim Planet Online by Arsalan Iftikhar | Books] [Cyber Racism and Community Resilience: Strategies For Combating Online Race Hate | Scribd] [Naming The Gunman Glorifies His Crimes, Not Naming Him Could Undermine The Truth : NPR Public Editor : NPR] [NO NOTORIETY]() [What is the government doing about Islamophobia in Canada? Here’s what we know - National | Globalnews.ca] [Pourquoi les peines consécutives font-elles débat? | Radio-Canada.ca] [Quebec City mosque shooting - Wikipedia] [London, Ontario truck attack - Wikipedia] Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/darkpoutine

Episode 173 - On July 6, 2013, in Lac-Mégantic, Quebec, an unattended 73-car freight train carrying crude oil rolled down a grade and derailed downtown, multiple tank cars exploded, resulting in a massive fire. More than 30 buildings in the town's core were destroyed, and, sadly, forty-seven people lost their lives. Sources: [Ville Lac-Mégantic - Une ville à coeur ouvert] [Déraillement mortel d’un train à Lac-Mégantic - Ville Lac-Mégantic] [Balado Découverte - Le Marcheur d’étoiles | Circuit touristique de Lac-Mégantic] [Cinq clés pour comprendre la tragédie de Lac-Mégantic | Radio-Canada.ca] [10 of Canada’s worst train accidents - Macleans.ca] [Firefighter watched ghost train barrel past him moments before Lac-Mégantic derailment | CBC News] [Rail at center of Quebec town tragedy and heart of its recovery | Reuters] [Lac-Megantic’s resilience tested after ‘le train d’enfer’ - CentralMaine.com] [Summary of Railway Investigation Report R13D0054 - TSB Canada] [Railway Investigation Full Report R13D0054 - TSB Canada] [Lac-Mégantic MMA Train Accident - 6 July 2013 - YouTube] [Audio: Train engineer and railway company talk as Lac-Mégantic burns - The Globe and Mail] [Lac-Mégantic engineer Thomas Harding’s firing ruled illegal - Montreal | Globalnews.ca] [YouTube - Angry Lac Megantic residents seek answers - Global News] [YouTube - Lac-Mégantic News Conference - Investigation Report Release] [YouTube - Lac-Mégantic engineer calls released] [YouTube - Tragédie Lac Mégantic - Pierre Duquet] [YouTube - Incendie à Lac-Mégantic - username Nitrof Taz] [Wayback Machine - Montreal Gazette - Lives lost: Remembering Lac-Mégantic’s victims] [Global News Search - Lac-Mégantic] [Lac-Mégantic rail disaster - Wikipedia] Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/darkpoutine

Episode 169: On the evening of Christmas Day in 2017, upon gaining access to an Oak Bay, British Columbia apartment, police discovered a bloody crime scene. In the suite were the bodies of six-year-old Chloe Berry and her four-year-old sister, Aubrey Berry. They had been murdered in their beds. First responders also discovered Andrew Berry, Chloe and Aubrey’s father, naked, seriously injured and bleeding in the apartment's bathtub. He had penetrating injuries to his left chest and throat. First responders took Andrew by ambulance to Victoria General Hospital for treatment. He’d eventually have a rather tall tale to tell about what had taken place that day. Sources: R. v Berry, 2019 BCSC 2362 (CanLII), [Global News - SEARCH - Andrew Berry] [Oak Bay News - SEARCH - Andrew Berry] [Search Results | Times Colonist - Andrew Berry] [Oak Bay Police Note - Twitter] [Photo exhibits from Andrew Berry murder trial - BC | Globalnews.ca] [Mom of slain Oak Bay sisters supports recent changes to Canada’s Divorce Act  | Globalnews.ca] [Chloe & Aubrey Berry Bursary Fund - Victoria Foundation] Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/darkpoutine